The advent of safe elevators and increased horizontal city congestion have sent buildings reaching further and further into the sky. As buildings grow, however, so do their energy needs. Buildings in every major city consume a tremendous amount of energy which accordingly places a burden on and taxes energy supplies.
Such buildings, on the other hand, have an extremely large surface area which is constantly exposed to two sources of relatively free and renewable energy, namely, the wind and the sun. Indeed, some research suggests that solar heating systems become more efficient the larger the system. Accordingly, what is needed is a solar and wind energy generating system for a high rise building, to provide a dependable and reliable operating source of energy for its elevators and emergency lighting.
Conventional wind energy plants are presently used to generate consumer power in hilly or lofty regions offering high wind velocities and steady air currents. Both humans and birds compete for these same air currents, however, and these same areas and air currents are often bird migration corridors and nesting areas for many types of birds, including endangered predatory birds, such as bald eagles, golden eagles and peregrine falcons.
Further, the spinning blades of the wind turbines are a blur to the birds which concentrate intensely on catching their prey. Consequently, these wind farms become killing fields for birds, killing thousands of predatory birds captured in the spinning blades of the wind turbines. Bird killing will increase or keep pace with the global increase in conventional wind turbines. Although a netting enclosing wind generators may be contemplated, enclosing a conventional wind generator with 100 foot blades is truly a challenge if not generally impossible.
Thus, what is further needed is a solar and wind energy generating system which utilizes our renewable resources to produce energy without creating unnatural hazards for predatory birds. Additionally, utilization of an alternative form of wind and solar generating energy source such as an auger turbine and mounting solar energy generating apparatus on its components of fins and rudder, and including an auger shaped, fluid medium engaging member which is very visual for the predatory birds in flight, lessens the danger to the birds. Further, providing a protective netting around the auger shaped wind generators further enhances an already safer design and serves to further protect the birds from danger.